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I composed this article offline, previewed it in my sandbox on 18 September 2017, and then moved it to Drafts — with the unintended consequence that all versions prior to 18 September 2017 are versions of my sandbox, not versions of this article!
Having added the new Fig. 1 (and a few portraits), distinguished Malus's definition from Fresnel's (and noted their equivalence in isotropic media), traced Aldis's statements to their primary source (Fresnel, 1827, tr. Hobson), quoted Fresnel's retrospective nod at the modern definition (Fresnel, 1822, tr. Young), traced the apparent coinage of the term plane of vibration (Stokes), revised the lead to cover essential points, added supporting citations from standard texts (Born & Wolf, Hecht, Stratton), separated the Notes and References, checked the consistency of formatting of the References and Bibliography, and checked the copyright clearance of all the illustrations, I hope it is sufficiently clear that this article has (at least) reached B Class. I am willing to write a more detailed submission to that effect if necessary.